New Foundation Seattle Awards Martha Rosler Inaugural 100K Prize

Today the New Foundation Seattle named artist Martha Rosler the first recipient of its 100K Prize, which will be given biennially to a notable American female artist. With the award, Rosler will receive $100,000 from the Seattle–based nonprofit arts organization, which was founded by the art collector Shari D. Behnke.

Rosler, who works in New York, became famous during the late 1960s and early ’70s for her feminist photomontages and video works. Her radical work has looked at how ideologies of all kinds seep into parts of life that seem apolitical, from the kitchen to video itself.

Two of Rosler’s photomontage series will be the subject of an upcoming show at the Seattle Art Museum this December. Meanwhile, in January, the New Foundation will show Rosler’s If You Lived Here Still, documentation of a 1989 project in which the artist lectured on and raised awareness of homeless Americans.

“I am honored and delighted to be the first recipient of the 100K Prize from The New Foundation Seattle, an award instituted in recognition of women artists whose work has shown a commitment to social justice,” Rosler said in a statement. “It is especially gratifying that this generous prize seeks to support artists like me, who are trying to think through the role of art in the activation of communities, and that this is reflected in the year-long programming dedicated to opening social questions to broad publics in different locales around the city.”